Marie Jarry's Plight Not Unique; 5 Ways to Fight Back

Apparently, Connecticut's teacher shortage is not so severe that those faculty members who prefer bikinis to burkas can't be run out of town on a wheelbarrow. There is the case of Southington, Connecticut, teacher Marie Jarry who exercised her First Amendment right by appearing in a bikini on the Howard Stern show. On May 9, she abruptly resigned her teaching position, and it is still unclear whether or not she did so because of pressure from the community or because the school board told her to resign.

While I am one of those middle-aged men who is much sexier when clothed, I certainly can empathize with Mrs. Jarry's plight. All it took was a very tasteful televised news bit about my religion, Wicca, and all heck broke loose. One day, I was a tenured teacher in Nowhere, Nebraska. The next day, I was a baby eating devil-worshipper. Parents took their children out of my classroom, administrators and school board members publicly discussed the supposed dangers of me and my faith, and students felt justified to assault me in the classroom. About a year later, I was a spitting image of the shell-shocked soldier in Tom Lea's famous painting "The Two-Thousand Yard Stare." One cold February morning, all there was left for me to do was to pack up and walk out.

What teachers, pop singers, baseball stars and politicians have in common with the rest of us is that they are entitled to live their lives freely, confined only by local, state and federal law. Had Marie Jarry violated the dress code by going to work topless, she should indeed have been fired. If she removed her top on the Howard Stern show, that may not be your cup of tea, but as long as she is not breaking any laws, that's her business and hers alone.

A word about community standards: sometimes, they are dead wrong. They are what got Hitler elected, put the Taliban in charge of Afghanistan, and made cross burning a Southern pastime. Thank goodness those times are past. Pandering to "community standards" can only save you for so long. When the finger points to you, all you can do is fight back.

Here are five ways of fighting back:

Be proactive.